The present invention relates to on-line service mediation techniques.
In particular, it relates to content services that can be supplied via third generation (3G) cellular radio communication networks of the UMTS type (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). It is more generally of interest to Internet service providers (ISP), whether the subscriber access is by radio, by wire or by other means. The term “3G services” is used below to denote the services affected by the invention, without this being in any way limiting.
The rating of these services is difficult to perfect. The service providers put in place an information system (IS) to deal with customer care and billing (CC&B). These ISs provide them with the ability to rate the 3G services with a large number of metrics available to differentiate these services in terms of rating and billing.
For this, the manufacturers offer platforms to provide SCP-type content mediation (SCP being an intelligent network term standing for “service control point”). These manufacturers include NARUS, ENITION, VoluBill, P-Cube, etc.
All these platforms provide a functionality for analyzing and supervising IP (Internet Protocol) packets exchanged within the context of 3G service sessions initiated by the user of a 3G terminal or of a workstation connected to the Internet. They have the ability to analyze the information encapsulated in the IP packets up to layer 7 (Application) of the OSI protocol architecture model. This enables them to apply rating metrics taking into account IP addresses, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) ports, URL (Uniform Resource Locator) resources, etc.
These platforms are normally incorporated in the same place in the IS domain of the CC&B: between the endpoint node of the access network (3G cellular or fixed line), and the first node of the IP network hosting 3G services (ISP network or Internet network). This first input node in the 3G services IP network is most often a 3G services “portal”.
Some of these platforms, for example the “NetToll” platform marketed by ENITION, have a functionality enabling the 3G service provider to be autonomous in the phase of creating his 3G services. A protocol (called “NetPolicy” in the case of the “NetToll” platform) enables the 3G service provider to define and create all the data that makes up the information model of his new 3G service. The 3G service provider thus himself creates all the data relating to the new service in the database forming the service reference base of the “SCP-Like Content Mediation” platform.
For the rating of 3G services, the most difficult problems to resolve in this IS domain of the CC&B stem:                from the current impossibility of guaranteeing a quality of service (QoS) that is completely deterministic for the “delivery” of the 3G services;        from the “multi-session” nature of the technologies supporting these services (UMTS and its upgrades, or IP fixed networks). This means that, for example, the end user of a 3G terminal (mobile phone, personal digital assistant, etc.) can set up a plurality of 3G service sessions running in parallel.        
Any mechanism that helps to improve the QoS perceived by the user who sets up 3G service sessions is desirable to facilitate the hitherto slow take-off of the 3G services.
A particular problem is that of the perception by the end user of certain communication interruptions which can be due to various reasons. In the absence of particular precautions, there is a risk of such an interruption being perceived very abruptly by the customer, which may discourage the customer from subscribing to this type of service. The success of a new 3G service runs the risk of being compromised if it brings into play circumstances in which such an abrupt interruption is particularly disagreeable to the customer (for example, if he does not know whether his bank account has been debited).
The 3G service session interruption decision situations include in particular the following:                detection by the rating system that a zero threshold is reached on the account associated with the rating of a service (for example, the account associated with the rating of the service transport part);        certain legal obligations, such as the protection of underage persons with respect to “addictive” behaviors that urge them toward excessive consumption;        for companies, the needs to protect and monitor the consumption of “enterprise” type 3G services by their field or office employees etc.        
An object of the present invention is to propose a mechanism for improving the ergonomics of the on-line services, in particular in cases of involuntary communication interruption.